


Menagerie of Worlds

by UnFunny (Quippy)



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Akechi Goro Lives, AkiRen makes a deal with Yaldabaoth, Drabbles, F/F, Fic Snippets, Gen, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Persona 5 Protagonist Has A Palace, sorta - Freeform, spy AU, timeloop AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-25
Updated: 2020-11-11
Packaged: 2021-03-09 02:55:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 7,199
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27186884
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Quippy/pseuds/UnFunny
Summary: “You kissed Kurusu?!” Cookies crumbs went flying as she spoke but Ann didn’t care. The news was just too big to be taken in calmly. Makoto had suspected that Kurusu, a known criminal, was a pawn in Akechi’s devious plan and the rest of the group had been thinking the same. Morgana suggested that the dark haired boy might even be the new player they’d been warned about.At no point at any of them considered Akechi could be so human as to simply just like Kurusu.---A collection of drabbles, snippets and scenes from fics I haven't completed or plotted out yet plus some drabbles here and there.
Relationships: Akechi Goro/Amamiya Ren, Akechi Goro/Kurusu Akira, Akechi Goro/Persona 5 Protagonist, Amamiya Ren & Sakura Sojiro, Kurusu Akira & Sakura Sojiro, Other Relationship Tags to Be Added, Suzui Shiho/Takamaki Ann
Comments: 64
Kudos: 220





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I started posting this on my tumblr unfunny-quips [here](https://unfunny-quips.tumblr.com/) and decided to go ahead and post them on my AO3 as well so that I have a single place to keep everything together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If anyone is interested, you can find my tumblr [here!](https://unfunny-quips.tumblr.com/)

Somehow Arsene was _more_ intimidating when the Persona looked like Akira. 

It likely had to do with the fact that - despite appearing in all regards as just Akira dressed as Arsene - the Persona was still towering at over ten feet tall on a pair of wicked looking dagger heels. The blades of which - Goro noted with no small amount of apprehension - were each about as long as his forearm and shone with a well cared for gleam. And if Akira’s real life dedication to the maintenance of his blades was anything to go by, the two Arsene was elegantly walking about on were definitely sharp enough to kill any one of them with scarcely a flicker of the Persona’s ridiculously long legs.

“Woah.” Skull said, the blond gaping openly as the Persona in question turned bright red eyes upon them. Panther punched Skull sharply, hissing at the hot head - too late - to be quiet. If Arsene hadn’t noticed them before, the two blonds following squabble definitely would have drawn the Persona’s attention.

Goro scrambled to prepare for a fight plan as the Persona began languidly striding over to them. Of all the shadows he’d been worried about coming across in Akira’s Palace he’d somehow hadn’t considered that Arsene would be wandering around waiting for them to stumble across his path. Goro knew just how much time and work Akira had put into making his first Persona a formidable enemy. Not even Bless attacks really bothered the Pillager of Twilight anymore, and he knew from personal experience in his regular spars with Akira that Arsene hit like a fucking _truck_ these days.

As the Persona approached, Goro tensed, mind racing over everything he knew about the demonic gentleman thief striding their way. He could absorb most of the curse damage with Loki, but they’d need Queen ready with heals for when the the all mighty damage came down and -

Arsene was _winking_ at him.

What.

“ _Mon cœur,_ ” The Persona said with Akira’s voice and no small amount of amusement. “You have come, how delightful!”

Goro looked up - and _up_ \- to meet Arsene’s red gaze. He was close enough now that the fact that the Persona’s eyes faintly glowed like embers was easy to see now. The twisted black horns that sprouted from Arsene’s head caught the red light, equal parts dazzling and dangerous. The Persona leaned forward, taloned hands on hips, so that they were closer to eye level, though Goro still had to crane his neck to look him in the face.

Arsene looked vaguely put out as he glanced away from Goro and over the Phantom Thieves. His mouth twisting into a somewhat petulant frown as he said, “I see you have brought the rest of the thieves with you, how terribly disappointing. I had hoped we could tour the Palace just the two of us…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mon cœIt from what I understand is a french term of endearment that means "My heart." Unfortunately I don't speak french so this may be incorrect/the grammar may be wrong, if that's the case please let me know and I can change it!
> 
> This snippet is from one of several stories ideas I have for AkiRen having a Palace (I love this concept so much and have about three different ideas for it). I love Arsene and can never get enough of him being his own character in stories, and wanted to explore that some (also just Arsene, looking like an incredibly tall Akira, flirting with Goro on Akira's behalf gives me so much joy haha).


	2. The Disappearance of Amamiya Ren (Part 1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ren disappears while on a job. Sojiro just wants his son back. Akechi returns wakes from his dreams.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I started posting this on my tumblr [here](https://unfunny-quips.tumblr.com/) and decided to go ahead and post them on my AO3 as well so that I have a single place to keep everything together.
> 
> This is the first part of a number of snippets taking place in a AkiRen Spy AU (of a sort).

Sojiro knows what’s in the folder just from the look Ren has when the kid drops it on the counter between them.

“They usually don’t try to recruit until after college.” He mutters, scowling down at the innocuous looking folder. Ren shrugs in that absent way of his, leaning on one elbow as he stares into his half empty coffee cup. The nonchalance doesn’t hide the interest Sojiro can see in those dark eyes, the temptation that the offer has instilled.

It’s late at LeBlanc, the sign on the door flipped to “Closed” and the front door locked. Outside the world has gone dark, a few flakes of early winter snow drifting down from the sky to cling to the chilled earth. Futaba is visiting her friend Kana for the weekend, Morgana off getting lavished with attention and sushi at Haru’s. Ren normally would be out too, kicking around with one of his friends on a rare off-night from university or - more likely - visiting the comatose Akechi in the hospital.

That he is here, sitting across from Sojiro sipping coffee and dropping that folder down on the counter says everything that needs to be said on the situation.

Sojiro takes the folder, though he knows what’s inside already. Pages of recruitment fodder, the real job being offered hidden between words and beneath concepts. One page proclaims a chance of adventure and travel and Sojiro actually snorts. Ren’s slanted smile let’s him know that the boy had seen the ridiculousness of that claim too.

At length Sojiro closes the folder, tossing it to the side with little fanfare. “I can’t say I’m surprised.” He admits, rubbing at his temples. “Even back in highschool you were exactly the kind of quick thinking, resourceful trouble maker C.I.R.O looks for.”

Ren hums in amusement, dark eyes flashing with mischief. “Why didn’t you suggest I reach out then?”

Sojiro chuckles, “You kidding? You’d eat em’ alive kid.”

The boy smiles, flashing teeth, and amusement.

He takes the job.

Sojiro wonders years later if it's his fault that Ren has gone in for a career in intelligence, wonders if it’s his fault for what happened. If he’d just tried a little harder, pressed a little more for the boy to look into other employment.

Maybe he could have stopped it. 

* * *

Ren goes dark.

It’s not anything he hadn’t warned Sojiro about - he was being loaned out to a different secretive government organization than the one the kid usually worked with and the entire operation was so hush-hush that not even Ren’s director really knew the details. Ren has been given enough information to know the mission will take about a month, and that while it required his particular skills, assurances were given that he was going to be largely a consultant and not front lines to anything that could get him killed. He’d be unable to call for a while, but it wasn’t the first time something like this had come up during the kid’s career.

Not the first time, but the last.

It’s fortunate that he’s at home when he gets a call from an old friend still on the inside of things. The news is enough to have his knees go weak beneath him and his body to slump to the floor in a slow surrender to gravity and the heavy weight of what he’s told. Futaba is a panicked mess at the sight of him pale and crying on the floor with his phone dropped beside him. He knows he needs to be strong for her but it’s hard when words like _lost contact_ and _missing in action_ and _looking for a body_ were just softly broken to him by an old friend.

Ren had been his son since the moment Sojiro saw the kid looking lost and lonely in LeBlanc all those years ago. He took him in because the kid’s parents were second hand friends of a friend and the news that they were going to send their child off to a complete stranger for a year made rocks settle in his gut. They paid him in cash they sent in an envelope with a request not to contact them unless it was an emergency.

Ren was a quiet kid, not the troubled juvenile delinquent that had been described in his short phone calls with the kid’s parents. His first weeks living in LeBlanc the kid cleaned up the attic room, kept his nose stuck in his studies, dark eyes skirting away whenever Sojiro spoke to him. A year later Ren’s parents hadn’t called once, not even when Tokyo was a mess and the world was falling apart and Ren was reported as _dead_. He petitioned Futaba’s social workers to let him take guardianship over the boy before he was sent back to what he eventually learned was a cold, loveless home.

Ren’s parents signed off on the paperwork without issue, their only protest being a request for the money they paid Sojiro to be returned.

Ren cried when he gave him the news. The first time he’d ever seen the kid so openly emotional. He remembered wrapping his new son up in his arms, heart squeezing painfully in his chest as he listened to the quiet, sniffling chant of _thank yous_ being muttered into his chest by the boy.

Soujiro had never wanted kids until he found himself with two and realized that he was willing to burn the world down for them. He’s still willing to burn the world down for them.

So he does.

He pulls himself together, explains to Futaba - as best he can - what’s happened and starts making phone calls.

He left CIRO with a lot of favors in his back pocket, and he pulls them out one by one to get as many eyes on the case of finding his son as soon as possible. Futaba does much the same, burying herself in code and networks and databases she has no business even knowing about let alone skipping through as easily as she does. They reach out to Sae to get more eyes, more minds on the case and eventually the entire team of Phantom Thieves minus their leader is taking over his living room. Most of them can’t do much to help, but while Haru and Makoto throw money around and pull strings, Yusuke and Ann start making missing person posters to put up. Ryuji and Morgana take to the streets, spreading the word to Ren’s vast network of confidants what’s going on and to keep an eye out for any sign of the dark haired thief.

By the third day there’s an organized phone tree with hourly updates being texted out to the many people who are worried about Ren. No one is any closer to knowing where he is or what happened to cause him to go missing but it’s not stopping any of them from doing their best to figure it out. To _find him._

It’s as Sojiro downs his fourth cup of coffee that morning - Yusuke made it, strong, bitter and awful but full of enough caffeine to keep them all going - that his phone rings with an unfamiliar number.

It’s the hospital, and for a moment he’s trapped somewhere between panic and relief that he’s being called and told that Ren is there.

It’s not Ren they’re calling about though.

Akechi Goro, seven years in a coma that no one can explain, has woken up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sojiro is best dad. No one can convince me otherwise.
> 
> I love the idea of Ren becoming a spy/going into the intelligence field after the events of the game and all the government sanctioned heists he could get up to. I also love supernatural mysteries, and so this au was born (though has not been completed quite yet).
> 
> I'm not sure how many parts of this snippet series there will be, but there will be at least one (probably two) more with what I have written so far. It will probably end up being longer, since I always seem to write more snippets for this whenever I'm having trouble with my other projects haha
> 
> Thank you so much for reading and please let me know what you think!


	3. Hellfire AU

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yaldabaoth's offers Akira a deal: the world for his obedience.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If anyone is interested, my tumblr is [here!](https://unfunny-quips.tumblr.com/)

Yaldabaoth offers a deal. Not the world for Akira to command, but the lives of those he loves, the world as it is untouched by a god of Control.

Akira has the choice. He can take Yaldabaoth’s offer, surrender himself to the whims of a False God, or he can live with the heavy weight of the deaths of everyone he has ever loved, the chaining of the world. He can’t fight alone, he can’t win against a god.

“The Detective too, will live, Trickster.”

_Akechi._

“Can I say goodbye?”

The god shifts, dropping the stolen form of Igor. Twisting and turning, taller, radiant. Still humanoid but there are wings of gleaming, sharpened metal and far, far too many eyes. Lavenza looks forlorn beside him, but doesn’t speak out. She only asked that Akira stop the pretender from destroying the world, and this deal will see that goal achieved.

“Of course.” The god says, soft and deep and dangerous. “I am a merciful god. Find them, lead them back to their world, but return to me. Or else Trickster, you will spend the rest of eternity watching them die in as many painful ways as I can imagine.”

* * *

He finds Akechi last.

The detective is swearing loudly, his frustrated screams echoing down the halls of the false velvet room. Akira can hear the sound of metal scraping against steel, the clang of a jail cell door being hit repeatedly.

It’s not a surprise that Akechi is in his Black Mask outfit, or that unlike the rest he is furiously trying to claw his way out of his prison cell instead of quietly wallowing in defeat and uncertainty. Akechi has been fighting his entire life, refusing every inch of the way to bend his will to anyone. Not even his own death can stop him. 

Akira feels the warm surge that always settles over him whenever he sees Akechi. It’s nearly enough to eclipse the way his heart twists at the knowledge of what is coming next. He’d been broken in the wake of Akechi’s death. Determined to see his promise through but worn too thin, jagged at the edges, exhausted by the weight of responsibility to great for a mortal boy to carry alone.

Seeing him again…

“There’s an easier way out, you know.” He says, allowing a familiar smirk to pull at his lips as the enraged boy turns a furious snarl on him before stilling.

“Joker.”

“Crow.”

Akira walks forward, reaches for the door. The lock unfurls beneath the barest touch, door sliding open with barely a whisper. And they are left standing there, staring at one another.

Akechi pants faintly, exhausted from Akira doesn’t know how long of trying to tear his way out of his prison cell. His face is exposed, mask pushed up out of the way. In the dim light of the cell block there’s the faintest impression of freckles along the detective’s nose. His cheeks are flushed from fury and exertion, hair damp and eyes glittering dangerously.

He’s beautiful.

It’s decided, then. Truly. Akira settles with the choice he’s made, the deal he’s taken.

His life for theirs.

It’s worth it, so long as Akechi gets to live free.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit shorter than the other snippets, but a lot of fun. This came about as a result of listening to Hellfire from the Hunchback of Notre Dame soundtrack and just imagining it as Yaldy being Frollo to Akira's Esmerelda and just, a whole au was spawned that day. I've plotted some stuff out for this, but haven't written for it much yet.
> 
> Thank you so much for reading and please let me know what you thought!


	4. The Shuffled Deck AU

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A snippet from a Timeloop fic wherein everyone except Akira remembers the previous year...more or less. If only the Phantom Thieves could remember their leader Joker.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If anyone is interested my tumblr can be found [here!](https://unfunny-quips.tumblr.com/)

Akechi Goro’s apartment was _nothing_ like what Ann had expected it to be. Though admittedly her imagination had been a bit conflicted on what she should expect.

The shiny, polite Ace Detective facade he showed the world suggested she should expect a living space ripped straight out of a designer magazine. Attractive but stiff, nice to look at but difficult to actually live in let alone be comfortable in when visiting.

On the other hand, what she’d seen of his other side - the feral, blood thirsty and thoroughly nasty Black Mask - made her think of a dungeon like space. Chains on the walls, maybe one of those disturbing cluttered spaces shown on crime dramas when the heroes were hunting a serial killer. Pictures with blacked out eyes pinned to the walls, red string connecting disparate and terrifying thoughts and images, a collection of weapons on display.

What she got was…neither of those.

Shiho led her down the kind of pleasant residential area that put Ann in mind of the best kind of summers as a kid. A big park, open friendly faces, a community that seemed friendly and kind to each other. Shiho smiled and waved to a number of people on their way, the few they stopped to chat with for a bit telling her to give their hellos on to Akechi before letting them continue.

The apartment itself was the converted guest house in the back garden of what looked to be a cheerful family home. Ann counted no less than three fat cats lazing about and when they approached a delightfully plump old woman seated in a rocking chair on the front porch sat up from her reading to say hello and welcome Ann. Shiho called her Obaasan and rushed to give her a hug like she really was Shiho’s beloved grandmother before the old woman ushered them down the side path towards the back of the house.

“That’s Goro’s landlady, Shibata-San,” Shiho said as they walked the narrow path that led along the side of the house and through a truly beautiful garden. “She’s super sweet but has trouble with her arthritis sometimes. She gives Goro a deal on the rent since he helps her out so much around the house and with her gardening.”

Akechi Goro being nice to little old ladies. Ann wasn’t certain if that was exactly what she expected from the deranged killer pretending to be a charming teen detective or something so far out of the realm of expected as to be laughable. She chose to make a polite hmm noise of interest instead, not wanting to break the good mood Shiho was in by bringing up how very much Ann _hated_ Akechi. She was rewarded by Shiho smiling warmly at her, which was really all the shorter girl would need to do to convince Ann to murder someone in Shiho’s name.

Shiho knocked at the door and Ann took a final calming breath to prepare her for the night that lay ahead of her. It was just a few hours, and she’d be there with Shiho and there would be plenty of other people to help buffer her from Akechi and Akira. Ann had helped shoot a god in the face once, she was ready for anything Akechi might throw at her over a few hours of talking about a book.

She wasn’t even _close_ to ready, as it turned out.

The realization settled in the moment the door opened to reveal a yawning Akechi standing before her with messy hair and Featherman themed pajamas. _Rumpled_ and clearly well worn Featherman pajamas.

Ann felt her eyes widen comically at the sight of the boy that had once been her and her team’s arch nemesis. A known and dangerous killer who had taken countless lives in the name of his twisted revenge scheme. 

He was wearing adorable unicorn slippers. Their horns were rainbow.

“Ah, Shiho!” Akechi said through his yawn, face stretching into a warm smile as he spotted the shorter girl on the other side of the threshold. “Just in time, I need help hauling Akira’s dead weight to the bedroom.” Ann watched him scratch lazily at his chin before blinking his attention over to her and offered another smile. It was a brittle, plastic thing in comparison to the honest warmth he’d offered the shorter girl. All polish and teeth, no actual emotion. “And Takamaki-San, I’m so glad you could join us for the evening.”

He looked anything but, especially with the white knuckled grip he had on the door handle.

Ann offered a strained smile of her own. She’d made a promise to Shiho damnit and she’d see it through if it killed her. Or if Akechi killed her. Whatever. The point was that she was going to _try_ damnit.

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world!” She said as Akechi stepped back to allow them inside. Shiho gave a faint wince at the overly perky tone Ann had and _shoot_ she’d overshot the enthusiasm a bit. Oh well. Better to be too excited than not enough. She followed Shiho’s lead in taking her shoes off and slipping on a pair of house slippers before turning her attention to the apartment itself.

It was…surprisingly cozy.

Ann was surprised too by the amount of clutter taking up the apartment. A laundry basket of half-folded, clean clothes sitting next to the couch, a knocked over bag tossed on a side table by the front door, more pillows and blankets than Ann would have expected making it seem like a nice place to curl up and read in. The apartment still managed to look tidy despite the half hearted attempt at organization.

Most of the space consisted of a living room with a tiny kitchenette tucked in a corner. There was a small nook beside the cooking area likely meant for dining. The small table placed there was taken over by a nice looking chess set, leaving no room for any actual dining. A small blackboard hung on the wall beside it, tallying victories of each player - tied, from what Ann could see, between Akechi and Kurusu. Other than that there were a couple doors leading to what she presumed to be a bedroom and a bathroom. 

It looked so remarkably _normal_.

Hardwood floors, plush rugs thrown everywhere, overstuffed bookshelves, pictures on the wall. There was a larger one hung over the couch showing off the entire book club smiling brightly at what looked like a cat cafe. Shiho, Akechi, Kurusu, Yoshizawa, even Togo Hifumi and Iwai’s son Kaoru. All of them squeezed together to fit, hands up in peace signs or giving each other bunny ears.

They looked _normal._ Just kids hanging out, enjoying each other’s company and reading books. It was hard to reconcile the photo with the mental image Ann had of several of the members as potential agents of Yaldabaoth.

Seeing how happy Shiho looked in the pictures didn’t help.

Ann pushed the thoughts away as best she could and followed other two to where a half asleep Akira was laid sprawled half under a large kotatsu. The delinquent had his head thrown back on the couch behind him, one of the many throw pillows Akechi apparently owned curled in his arms. She was surprised to see his usual oversized glasses he so often hid behind tossed haphazardly on the kotatsu. His eyes were closed, but he cracked one open when he heard them come over.

“M’fine here.” He muttered, curling up further around his pillow.

Akechi rolled his eyes. 

“There is a bed literally right there.” he pointed at one of the two closed doors for emphasis, mere steps away. Akira was already turning away and wiggling further beneath the kotatsu blanket. “Just go to _bed_ Akira, no one else is even going to be here for another hour at least.”

Ann blinked. “What?” She turned from the drowsy Akira to Shiho, the shorter girl giving an unapologetic, challenging smile.

“Goro said we could come over early so you could get settled in!” Shiho said, chipper and all too aware of the fact that Ann had been banking on keeping her attention on other people in order to ignore Akechi. She really shouldn’t have been surprised. Shiho really did know her too well.

Akechi offered another brittle smile before turning his attention back to Akira, his expression softening again. Ann watched as the detective attempted to scoop the dark haired boy up, only for Akira to slip out of his grasp by going boneless, earning an undignified swear from the detective. 

Ann watched as the detective attempted to drag the delinquent away by an arm, amused as Shiho strolled over casually and hauled Akira up over her shoulder - pillow and all - in a fireman’s hold. She did it with such ease that Ann was a left little breathless at the show of strength. Akira wasn’t heavy by any measure but he was tall and she’d seen him working out at the gym the one time she went with Ryuji. The boy had _muscle_ and that couldn’t be light. It didn’t matter to the short girl and her exceptional strength and well… Ann was weak to Shiho in so very many ways.

A few minutes later Akira had been safely stowed in a proper bed, the faint sound of soft snores heard from the dark haired delinquent before Shiho had even made it through the door. Which just left the three of them standing awkwardly in the living room.

Joy.

“I’m not nearly as good as Akira or Boss,” Akechi began, “But I can make a passable cup of coffee with what I’ve got here. Would you like one?”

There was a very real chance he might poison it. Ann nodded anyway to appease Shiho, resigned to the fact that she really was willing to do anything to see the shorter girl smile. 

Akechi shuffled towards the kitchenette in his ridiculous fluffy unicorn slippers and began fussing with the various coffee supplies that took up almost all of his very limited counter space. He was even nice enough to pull out a container of some cookies - a favorite brand of Ann’s on top of it - that hadn’t even been opened yet from a cupboard. She felt secure in the knowledge that those at least hadn’t been tampered with as she began happily devouring them.

“He’s still refusing to move in?” Shiho asked Akechi softly as she settled on the plush loveseat adjacent to the couch, tugging Ann down beside her. The dark haired girl pulled her feet up and under her, Shiho’s expression turning concerned as she watched Akechi work.

Akechi gave a soft sigh as he began boiling some water for the coffee. “He’s just so damn _stubborn_.” The detective said, shoulder’s drooping as he measured the freshly ground coffee out. “That place is killing him, but every time I bring it up he digs his heels in.”

Shiho gave a soft sigh before turning her attention to Ann to explain. “Akira is…” She paused, frowning, “His living situation is… _bad_.” Ann flicked her attention to Akechi as she heard him mutter a faint _fucking understatement of the year_ under his breath. “Goro has offered to let him stay here but Akira’s worried that his record would hurt Goro’s reputation.”

“Oh,” Ann said, turning her attention on the delicate chocolate dipped cookie she held. Akira’s criminal record, that had been made public and well known by Mishima at Komashida’s request. Because Akira had stepped in and kept the teacher from getting to Shiho. Something _Ann_ should have done. “Isn’t there something he can do? He’s staying with a guardian right? Couldn’t he just request to be moved under someone else?”

Akechi snorted bitterly. “Great idea, so that _scam artist_ can report him as being “dangerous” and get him sent back to Juvie?” Red eyes turned to Ann, pinning her in place as Akechi’s mouth twisted into a sour frown. “You know about shitty adults. You know there really aren’t options like that for people in Akira’s position.”

Ann was struck again by the strange clash between what she expected from Akechi from the last run of the game and what he was showing her in this one. 

A facade of niceties for the camera, a howling soul of insanity for anyone who got in his way. Where, exactly, between those two extremes lay concern for a friend in a difficult position? Where did _friends_ lay in that mess at all? Where did the cozy apartment, helping out an arthritic old lady, the weekly book club, the Featherman pajamas? Was there a graph somewhere that might map it all out? Or was she just supposed to guess at what was a real glimpse at the boy that had once murdered her friend’s father and what was an act to get what he wanted?

“Here,” Akechi said, and for a moment she half expected him to hand her the answers she wanted. He didn’t, of course, instead handing her a cup of coffee resting on a matching saucer. Both cup and saucer had cute chubby cats on them. “Cream? Sugar?”

She blinked and nodded, watching as he turned on his heel to get her what she asked for. Shiho beside her shifted where she sat, butting their shoulders together gently. Her face, when Ann met her gaze, was thoughtful. Considering Ann as if _she_ was the puzzle and not the serial killer juggling a carton of cream and an oversized container of sugar across the room. Trying to stow her apprehension away for the night, Ann offered her friend the best honest expression she could while knowing how many lies she’d given the shorter girl over the past months. 

Shiho’s expression shifted slowly, the look in her dark eyes difficult to read. Ann watched as the other girl turned to sip at her coffee. Shiho didn’t even wait for it to cool. She always liked her drinks hot enough to scald.

“You know, maybe it’s the way you’re asking.” Shiho said, the complicated emotions Ann glimpsed the moment before shuffled away as the dark haired girl turned a devious smile on Akechi.

The detective looked weary and wary all at once. “Shiho…” His tone had something like a weak warning to it, though the bite Ann was used to hearing from him was absent.

“I’m just saying,” Shigo said, looking delighted, “You’re asking him to move in with you as a _friend_.”

“ _Don’t_.” Akechi said, it might have been sharp and snapping if it wasn’t for the color rising high on the boy’s cheeks. Ann blinked in bewilderment. Was Akechi Goro _blushing?_

“Just ask him to be your boyfriend already!” Shiho said, all cheer and delight with an undercurrent of something challenging directed at the now _definitely_ blushing Akechi. “We all saw you two kiss at the ice rink! It’s not like the thing between you it’s a secret!”

Ann choked on the cookie she’d just popped into her mouth. Akechi - so red that Ann was fairly certain he was going to turn _purple_ soon - made a high pitched squeak and buried his face in his hands.

Well _that_ put a new light on things.

“You kissed Kurusu?!” Cookies crumbs went flying as she spoke but Ann didn’t care. The news was just too big to be taken in calmly. Makoto had suspected that Kurusu, a known criminal, was a pawn in Akechi’s devious plan and the rest of the group had been thinking the same. Morgana suggested that the dark haired boy might even be the _new player_ they’d been warned about.

At no point at any of them considered Akechi could be so human as to simply just _like_ Kurusu.

“It’s not that - you’re taking things out of context!” Akechi almost wailed, not a psychopath ready to kill at a drop of a hat but an embarrassed teenage boy being teased about his crush.

Shiho laughed, “You two held hands!” 

“I didn’t know how to skate! Kurusu was helping me balance!”

“You stayed on the ice during the couple’s song!”

“We just didn’t want to get off the ice!”

“You stopped, in the middle of the rink, looked deep into each other’s eyes while holding hands and _kissed_.”

As if to drive her point home, Shiho lifted her phone to show a picture - a bit blurry at the edges but clear enough to make out - of Akechi and Kurusu definitely having a sweet, romantic kiss on the ice. Clearly completely oblivious of the world around them as they did so. It was possibly the cutest thing Ann had ever seen.

Any idea Ann ever had of Akechi Goro being intimidating was thrown right out the window.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For a little more background information on this AU: 
> 
> Akira doesn't remember the previous run and his living situation is much worse this time through. Akechi remembers everything about the previous run and is trying hard to be better. The Phantom Thieves remember most of the previous run, but Akira has been edited out of their memory.
> 
> This is a snippet from a fic that I've actually outlined and done some more snippet writing for. I haven't quite figured everything out plot wise for it, which is why I haven't started making full chapters yet, but once I get that sorted and I have time this is one I'm definitely excited to turn in to a full fledge (probably way too long haha) story!
> 
> Thank you so much for reading and please let me know what you think!


	5. The Disappearance of Amamiya Ren (Part 2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> People start forgetting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If anyone is interested, my tumblr can be found [here!](https://unfunny-quips.tumblr.com/)

It’s an exhausting three months that follow.

Akechi Goro wakes a free man years after the rest of the world had forgotten he even existed. The former detective is shaky and confused when he wakes. The nurse, when Sojiro speaks to her, reveals how strange the boy’s return to the world was. Dead to the world one second, blinking awake and rasping a reply in a conversation only he knew the next.

“He was saying something about someone being sentimental.” The nurse tells him, face pinched as she peers into the hospital room where the gaunt man is being coached through small exercises by his physical therapist. He has a long road ahead of him getting back muscle mass and balance he lost while laying stationary for so long. Sojiro doesn’t envy him the coming months.

The nurse meet’s Sojiro’s glance with a soft, uncertain expression and he knows she’s going to tell him something that’s going to break his heart even more than it already is. 

“He asked where Amamiya-San was, kept saying they had just been talking.” The nurse looks equal parts apologetic and sad, her gaze a little misty as she speaks.

Ren had been beloved by the staff at the long term care facility. A fixture as present as any doctor, nurse or orderly. He visited Akechi every single day he physically could since highschool. Spending hours speaking to the comatose boy or reading aloud to him - sci fi and fantasy, mythology and folklore, occasionally even the Arsene Lupin series, though Sojiro’s a little unclear on why that series specifically. Ren would comb out Akechi’s hair and trimming the slowly growing scruff on the unconscious man’s chin, make sure his nails were kept trim and neat. Akechi was the most well cared for patient in possible all of Japan, from the way the nurses tell it. 

Ren never told Sojiro that he was in love with Akechi, but then he never had to either.

Actions, Sojiro felt, said far more than words ever could.

The nurse clears her throat a little, her voice still heavy as she says, “I think he remembered hearing him, while he was in the coma.”

Sojiro pretends his own eyes aren’t watery and gives a soft, sad sigh. His grey gaze turns to Akechi - looking pale and weary after only a few minutes of small, carefully movements with his arms and legs - and feels a heaviness in his chest. A pressing weight that has been there since he got that first call, since the moment Ren disappeared.

When they’d come to the hospital to see him - Sojiro, Futaba, Sae and, surprisingly, Ann - the first thing the former detective had done was furrow his brow in confusion, eyes tracing over each apprehensive face carefully. Sojiro remembers the silence that choked the room, the heavy uncertainty from both sides as to just how they were meant to handle this situation. Remembers the way Akechi’s eyes narrowed as he weakly turned his head as if to look behind them.

Then there had been that rasping sound. A voice unused for nearly a decade, worn thin by the exhaustion of being part of the waking world so long.

“Where is he?”

Like it was impossible that Ren would be anywhere else when Akechi Goro had clawed his way back to the conscious world after nearly a decade. 

Sojiro understood that disbelief. It was just as impossible a concept to him and the rest as it was to Akechi that the dark haired thief would not be there. Would not have already made camp in the hospital room and started making plans of living arrangements and therapy schedules and a future that had once seemed impossible. How could Akechi come back and Ren not be there?

Ren who hunted down specialists and research that might possibly be able to pull Akechi back. Ren who had never given up on Akechi, no matter how many people told him he should. Ren who never loved anyone half as much as he did the boy he met so many years ago.

That Ren wasn’t there when Akechi had finally come back…that more than anything made Sojiro afraid.

* * *

“There’s something going on with the Amamiya case.”

The news is…disturbing. On more levels than one. Sojiro frowns as he stares down at his coffee, rolling his unlit cigarette in between his fingers as he considers what he’s being told.

It’s been a little over half a year since Ren’s disappearance, and they’re no closer to finding him than they were the day the news broke. Just a gaping hole of an organization that by all accounts didn’t exist and the distinct lack of any sign of Ren. When one of his old friends who still worked in CIRO called, Sojiro had been hopeful that there was news. A lead, a clue, hell he’d take a ransom letter from a foreign agency at this point so long as it meant some clue as to just where he’s son is. It’s the uncertainty that’s killing him, the not knowing just what he’s fighting against to get Ren back.

It’s not a lead though. Instead the news his friend gives him is…unsettling. Ominous really. The kind of news that speaks of something big at the horizon, a threat of a storm nastier than what they can really weather.

“They’re forgetting.” His friend says, her voice hushed and strained. She sounds like she’s locked herself in a broom closet, hunkered down in a corner like a child afraid her parents might find her up after bedtime. “I was checking in with Shibata to see if he had any luck looking into that lead I told you about -” 

Another wild fox chase they’d uncovered. A collection of documents that supposedly held Ren’s itinerary for his time being loaned out. Sojiro had discounted the idea as soon as he heard it - shady organizations, in his experience, didn’t do itineraries - but had asked that the likely dead end be followed up anyway on the off chance that it gave them something tangible to chase. Shibata was one of the newer faces running around, fresh on the job as Sojiro was leaving but a good nose for investigation from what Sojiro had heard since. 

“And when I asked him,” his friend continues with her strained whispering, “He had no idea what I was talking about. Thought I was asking about a new case at first and then that I had lost my mind. And he’s not the only one.” There’s a noise on the other end of the line and Sojiro listens as his friend goes quiet. 

For long seconds she doesn’t even breathe It sets Sojiro’s teeth on edge, being forced to wait and listen to the stillness on the other end of the line. After a moment he hears the soft shush of a tense breath being slowly released after being held for too long. He’s thankful for the sounds, it helps remind him that he can stop holding his breath too.

“They’re all forgetting Amamiya.” She whispers, voice shaky. She was always one of the good ones, steady in the face of every disaster Sojiro had ever seen her face. Whatever is happening, it’s bad. Bad in a way that he has no idea how to face on. “It’s like the kid never existed at all. I even checked records and nothing. There’s nothing showing he ever worked for us. That even existed.”

He sits on that information. Worries at it like a loose tooth. He tells the kids and watches them sink their teeth into the information. It’s a little like watching piranhas devour their meal.

Akechi is still hospital bound. One day in a coma equal to one week in recovery, one doctor tells him and he knows from the determined look in Akechi’s eye that the young man has taken that as a challenge. He spends his days unable to join in the more physical aspects of the chase, but uses all the strength he has to offer up his ideas. His mind is still as sharp as ever, though he does look helplessly young and disoriented at times when he thinks no one is looking.

He still insists he was speaking to Ren before he woke up.

None of them have the heart to tell him outright that they think it’s just wishful thinking. 

A few days after his call with his old coworker, Sojiro calls her back looking for an update on some of the leads she’d found. She’s less tense than before, voice warmer and louder, and he can hear the buzz of the offices around her.

She doesn’t recognize the name Amamiya Ren. 

She only just remembers that she was helping him with something, but her voice drifts and she wanders to other topics of conversation whenever he tries to ask her about it. When he presses her about his son they slip into a loop in which she never quite grasps what he’s talking about. They speak in circles for ten minutes before there’s a pause and she asks him, pleasant and vague, why he’s calling.

He thanks her for her help and hangs up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part 2 of the the pseudo spy AU! Akechi is up and ready to throw hands...as soon as he can rebuild his muscles enough. Sojiro just wants his kid back so he can stop worrying and start planning a damn wedding already lol.
> 
> I really enjoy this AU, and really want to expand it out into a full on fic one day. As it is every time I have trouble writing for Feral Gods I end up writing a snippet or two for this haha
> 
> Thank you so much for reading and please let me know what you think!


	6. High Heels (Drabble)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Drabble prompt: akeshu going shoe shopping and Akira trying to get Akechi in some joker red woman's boots

Goro had expected…he’s not certain what he expected. 

Expectations are wasted on Akira Kurusu, the universe simply can’t contain him to such limited possibilities. Even still, though, Goro finds himself surprised by the reveal of a pair of intimidating looking black pumps the thief is sliding on.

“High heels?” The question leaves him before he can think better of it, and he’s rewarded with Akira sending one of those soft, sly glances at him from beneath wild fringe. He left his glasses behind today, and the result leaves the thief looking more like Joker than Akira.

Goro swallows and fights the warmth that burns his cheeks.

Akira’s smile slants towards mischievous, and stands with an elegance that speaks of experience with moving about in heels. Goro is left staring as Akira takes a few experimental steps away, pausing before a nearby mirror and examining how the dark leather pumps look on him. 

_Fantastic_ is the answer as far as Goro’s concerned. Not, of course, that he’d be telling _Akira_ that fact. The thief was a handful as it was without giving him any compliments on how the heels made his already long legs look magnificent or how his already smooth movements became down right elegant and enchanting when he shifted around in the heels.

Clearing his throat, Goro only offers a short, “Aren’t they a bit impractical?” in place of anything his scattered, beguiled mind would _like_ to offer. “I can’t imagine them doing anything but getting in the way in a Palace.”

Akira casts a glance over a shoulder and pins him with a look that makes his breath catch in his throat. Kurusu has no business looking that good. None at all. The thief turns slowly in place, long, precise strides bring him before Goro in a moment and all he can do is crane his head up to meet a coyly challenging gaze.

“Not really,” Akira says, low and soft, “I find them rather comfortable. And Lala Chan always said that if you can’t do it well in heels,” He leans forward, so close, _too_ close, and Goro swallows as he feels the soft brush of Akira’s breath against his lips. “You can’t do it well at all.”

The thief stands, a challenge in place of a kiss, and offers a wink as he sits and begins trying on a new pair.

Goro stews. And stares. Akira has found a pair of stilettos that look like they could do real damage - either as a weapon or as an addition to Akira’s outfit. It’s distracting. 

Not as distracting as what he said before though. Mulling over Akira’s challenge Goro’s gaze shifts to the box of deep red, heeled boots that the thief at dropped beside him on the bench he sat at when they’d first arrived. He and Akira were of a size there was no reason they shouldn’t fit him…

And he’s never backed down from any challenge - least of all from Akira - before.

He meets the thief’s silver-grey eyes with a determined look of his own and takes off his neat, practical oxfords, slipping on the boots with little fanfare. He’s not as elegant in them as Akira was his own heels, but it’s worth it to see Akira blink and flush, eyes unable to look anywhere but on Goro.

“Yes.” He says, as he steps up to stand beside Akira by the mirror, delighted by the way he can feel the thief take a sharp breath at how close they stand. “I believe there’s some merit in that after all.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Drabble prompt is from the wonderful [whatof10happens](https://whatof10happens.tumblr.com/) on tumblr!
> 
> I had so much fun with this prompt! It's way longer than a drabble is supposed to be, but it's about as short as I can go lol I'm a little too long winded sometimes (all the times).
> 
> I'll be posted the other drabbles I did on my tumblr soon!
> 
> Thank you so much for reading and please let me know what you think!

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading and please let me know what you think!


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